Hump day -- it's Day 5 of a 9 day trip, or, we are at an equal distance
between beginning and end. It's also Wednesday. Place-wise, we split our
attentions and affections between Saskatchewan and Manitoba, in that order.
But not before scoring some cool Simpsons stuff the Wal-Mart
in Prince Albert. (Oh, and we still haven't resolved the time crusade
to our satisfaction. It's as tough, despite the may saying otherwise,
they seem to be in Mountain Time, not Central... the running bet is Saskatchewan
doesn't observe daylight savings time, but Manitoba does, explaining the
variance in time by an hour for two prov inces in the same time zone.)
The alarm went off. Being the only
bird awake, I hit the snooze button
5:39am
The snooze alarm went off. Again, the only one awake, I elected
to turn the alarm off. It's still dark outside, anyway. (And given
the whole issue with time, there's a good chance it's only 4:39am
local time.)
7:13am
The extra sleep-in was nice, but this
is a bit of a productivity-defeating activity, no matter how pleasant.
7:49am
Tubby emerged from the bathroom, and it was my turn. The details
of my visit there need no further explanation.
8:18am
Being only 43°F, Tubby was a goodin'
and had the car warming up by the time I emerged outside with my stuff.
Motel check-out went quickly, and we headed into town to see what
Saskatoon was all about.
8:40am
Sufficiently seen about town, we jumped onto Highway 11, bound for
Prince Albert.
9:23am
We stumble across Duck
Lake, and just the name alone meant I had to stop.
9:39am
I set webbed foot back on the highway, again for Prince Albert.
On the way out of town, we pass a sign talking of a chance to buy
lots here in town starting at just CAN$20. Hmmm... an affordable price
to build a worldwide headquarters, and the name of the place is nearly
as perfect as if it were Frank Duck Lake.
9:44am
Back onto the open
road and the clouds that seem to be hovering around our next destination.
10:09am
Success! We reach Prince Albert
and have a wander around.
10:13am
Drawn to a large pointy thing, we
make our way toward what is only a church. Damn.
10:27am
In a quest for (a) ice, (b) more Pepsi, and (c) AA batteries --
the camera has been sucking them faster than an 8-year-old with a
cherry-flavored Icee on a hot summer day -- we stop into the Wal-Mart.
10:42am
We get out of Wal-Mart with several
thingys of soda, including Simpsons-themed soda. Needless
to say, for the most part, I've now finished my holiday shopping out
of the way for this year.
11:02am
Since Wal-Mart here lacked ice, and my cooler lacks cold Pepsi,
we popped into the 7-11. For CAN$2.29, we got a five-pound bag of
Party Ice, and a Pepsi. The check-out process was a bit prolonged,
as the clerk was new, being trained by Laura, who liked Tubby's shirt
(Disneyland characters... very grown-up like, huh.)
11:09am
Missing Highway 3, Tubby suggests
Highway 2 to 16, then hook to 16. 3-4 miles in, and it's apparent
the thin pink line of Highway 2 isn't as good as the fat pink line
of Highway 3.
11:28am
We cut along Highway 25, through St. Louis (no pictures, but you'll
live), and hook up to Highway 3. Deliciously fatter.
12:09pm
After a wander through Kinistino,
we rotate drivers, and I let the sleepy but sufficiently able-bodied
Tubby take the helm as I work on updates. (Sorry, I'm doing both today's
updates and yesterdays, which didn't get written yesterday, if you're
a daily reader. Which I suspect isn't too many of you...)
1:54pm
The view is something reminiscent of Wisconsin, or perhaps, Wisconsin
is reminiscent of Saskatchewan for a Canadian. Either way, it's something
like
this. As the CD player skips whilst playing a boomin' tune from
Crazytown.
2:32pm
We've been following the same fuel
truck for dang near 30 minutes, at 100 km/h on the nose (63 MPH or
so). Infuriating how they tend to follow the posted speed limit. It
makes me want to report trailer 765 for not speeding. If you're keen,
the number of their "How am I driving?" is 1-800-827-SAFE-,
vehicle number LR 467.
2:53pm
On a reasonable grade, we get two lanes to tackle crossing the hill.
As RVs occupy the slow lanes, our friends in the fuel trucks figure,
golly, they're faster than an RV, so they take the fast lane. Both
of them. Brilliant. So, if you were inclined to not report them before
for driving safely, now we got something on 'em -- felony stupid passing.
The other offender is trailer 768, vehicle number LR 468, also at
1-800-827-SAFE.
2:55pm
The peril -- and all the trucks and
RVs -- have been passed, and we're now cruising happily along at 108
km/h (about 70 MPH). Shell has the right motto -- life *does* happen
between Empty and Full.
3:11pm
Land, ho! I mean, Regina, ho! (Well, I didn't mean it like that,
simply that we've sighted the province's capital city, Regina.)
4:23pm
We reluctantly gave in to the road
trip standard lunch -- Wendys -- before beginning our wander around
town. To be fair, we also fed the car with a well-earned tank of petrol,
at a station that's good enough to have buttons
for both English and French visitors.
4:23pm
After wandering about the place for a while, including finally stumbling
across the legislature's building, we hit the Transcanada Highway
1, bound for Brandon.
6:38pm
We crossed from Saskatchewan into
Manitoba, and apparently, into a province that does recognize that
they're part of Central Time, or at least, daylight savings as part
of Central Time. Anyway. For consistency's sake, the times through
today are all Central daylight time, but all times
before now are listed as being an hour ahead of when a Saskatchewanian
resident would tell you they were. Enough of this.
7:47pm
I have successfully chartered our expedition (and our Expedition)
to another prosperous day, stopping in Brandon
for food, fuel and shelter for the evening.
8:02pm
We set out on our quest for a black
light, post cards, a coloring book and a travel scrunchie (for Tubby,
who left his Big Dogs scrunchie at home by accident). As much as I'd
joked about it outside, the clientele truly looked like this is the
social hot spot for a Wednesday night. May God have mercy on us all.
8:36pm
Exiting Wal-Mart after suffering through the 20 or so people in
line, spread across only three ineffective cashiers, we headed up
the few blocks to Pizza Hut, where we engaged in the consumption of
the usual. Michelle was our server, although she wasn't too passionate
about her work. Or, we were really dull guests; one of the two, or
perhaps, both.
9:54pm
Yeah, it's late. Tubby takes us over
to the Travelodge, where we find accommodations and even an open pool
and spa (doesn't close until 11pm). Unfortunately for me, but good
for him, I'm bound to get today's updates done, and yes, I'm still
working on yesterdays. Lots of content, and I've not had enough focused
time to do them. That pesky sleep thing.
10:34pm
Me writing you this about the pesky updates thing. Which means no,
the posting to the web still hasn't begun, and it's a slower process
than I'd care to admit. But then again, I don't control dial-up speeds
-- I'm merely limited by them.
11:32pm
Updates done and posted, and I'm tootling
off to bed. Nighty-night!
